


The Abominable Charger

by AlyssumFlowers



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, Modern Character in Thedas, Portal Fantasy, Tags May Change, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:21:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24595192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyssumFlowers/pseuds/AlyssumFlowers
Summary: Another oracular modern character in Thedas. Because I can.Dumped into Thedas as a mage, Anisha couldn't handle her magic on her own and obtained some outside assistance.  She'd been in Thedas for a few years before she joined the Iron Bull's Chargers, and was one of them a few years prior to the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition.Marking mature because it's gunna get that way and maybe even explicit. Only tagging the characters that are currently in chapter one and not where I'm planning on going because well who knows how long it'll take me. Comments and kudos fuel my writing motivation tho so.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	The Abominable Charger

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone on the MCIT discord server (recently changed to Portal Funtasy) for, well, everything. 
> 
> This fic in particular especially thanks Hood for the ridiculous name, and the Bull-riding jokes you know are going to happen. Thank you to Aka for the himbo Inquisitor. Thank you to VisceralComa and LonelyAgain who always help me with ideas and worldbuilding. And thank you to GrumpkinVicky who never stops listening to me, even long after I really need to stfu. 
> 
> .
> 
> Please feel free to let me know what you think, including but not limited to typos, critique, etc. Especially in particular the breadcrumbs I attempted to sprinkle throughout.

The fresh snow crunched beneath her boots. Wind whistled between the trees and through her, making her shiver and lean closer to Krem as they hiked up the mountain. Her shoulder bumped his and he bumped back, rolling his eyes at her.  The hike up the mountain to Haven was, she was told, far easier now than it once had been. Nobles looking for favor with the Chantry had donated copious amounts to efforts to carve out paths and roads for the carts, wagons, and carriages of both merchants and wealthy supplicants alike.  The human merchant prattled on from atop his cart, reins to his donkey held loosely in his hands. Krem was easy to talk to and she wasn't quite so bad at keeping the conversation going herself. Not that it took much with old men.

Her eyes flicked over the merchant's shoulder at movement on the other side of the cart. The mercenaries he had hired for protection walked in loose formation around the rest of the cart. Two of them spoke just out of her range of hearing and something about them was drawing her attention. Their eyes flicked towards her and then away. She watched the merchant instead in rapt attention as if she hadn’t noticed.

She could taste just the barest hint of something coming from them- No, only one of the two speaking? Not quite strong or deep enough to be called fear. Too weak, too shallow, too light, too watered down. Hardly even enough to call it anxiety. Had she developed such a high tolerance? Or was the emotion really so weak?  _ Apprehension? _ Or perhaps some other lesser form of worry, like embarrassment or shyness?  _ Not worth her time. _

She glanced at Krem and raised her eyebrows in an amused expression as if in response to the merchant whose name she had not bothered to learn. When she looked forward, they had reached Haven.

The tiny town was overflowing with activity like a disturbed ant hill. The cacophony of metal clanging against metal- both in the smithy and on the training field- was just reaching her even here and she paused to stare at the town in awe. Haven. Her eyes scanned along from the tip of the pointed Chantry, down to the spiked wooden walls and the bustling of the people inside, along the short length of town to the outer wall to the troops drilling some form over and over which made her smirk. It was real. 

"Yeah, the Breach is another sight altogether up close," the merchant told her. Anisha snorted, smiling and ducking her head as if embarrassed. "Nah, girly, I'd stare at it too if in weren't ma first time. Still catch ma self sometimes." She wrinkled her nose in confusion, but before she could say anything, he was heading off in another direction with nothing more than a wave. 

She had a new problem: a large, armored body blocking her way directly in front of her. She looked straight up at the- boy? Standing in front of her. Tall, muscled, but so young. Not a single scratch or scar she could see. Fresh, whole.

She sniffed. This close, she could tell what that weak, watery emotion was now. Shyness, nervousness, the insecurities of approaching someone new. A wholesome young lad without any real trauma yet.  _ Useless _ , she agreed. She rolled her eyes and before he could say anything, pushed past him.

The sound of Krem's footsteps caught up to hers. Her eyes flicked to the snow at his feet. How he had a lighter step than she did was something she still hadn't figured out even after working with the Chargers for- was it a year now? More than. Maybe two? Her thoughts were interrupted by Krem's teasing.

"Awwe, I thought that's how you liked them?" Krem asked. He bumped her shoulder with his own. "Look," Krem insisted, nodding at the boy who had caught up with his fellows. "He's so sad now."

Anisha scoffed and pretended to retch. "Ugh, no."

"I mean, the way you breathe down the Chief's neck- or, would do if you were tall enough-"

Anisha gasped in feigned shock. "First of all, fuck you. Second,-"

"No thanks," Krem interrupted. "Not breaking the incest rule."

"It's not even- !!! Ugh!!" Anisha made a frustrated noise and threw her head back. She playfully pushed him away from her. Krem just laughed at her as he stumbled away and then hogged to catch up with her again.

"Secondly- And I'm not even gunna fucking go there because you damn well know the dictionary definition of fucking incest by now-" Heads might have turned in confusion as her voice increased in volume. Anisha didn't care. "Secondly! There is a  _ massive _ difference," she insisted, arms outstretched for emphasis on just how massive the difference was. "Between the achievement it would be to ride the Bull, and the ineffectual pawing of a calf!"

"Young didn't stop you at the brothel."

Anisha gasped as if he'd said the most offensive thing she'd ever heard. "Excuse you! Don't be disrespectful! Hookers know what the hell they're doing! That's completely fucking different!!"

"Uhuh."

"Besides," she said. Krem waited patiently as they walked, amusement clearly dancing across his features.  Anisha rolled her eyes. She was more impatient than he. "The one at the brothel had scars." She paused. "And tattoos." Anisha made a satisfied noise and Krem only laughed in response. This time he got snow kicked at him for his trouble. 

* * * * *

Anisha held back and watched as Krem tried to approach various Templar types and important-looking warriors. Cassandra wasn't swinging at her wooden dummy, but she spied Cullen directing the trainees. Her eyes wandered to the iced-over lake and up the snowy mountains to the green sky. 

The Breach was breath-taking, awe-inspiring. She knew what to expect, but there was something so… three-dimensional? about seeing it in person. She could almost smell the crackling ozone, taste the tang on her tongue. She stared at it, mouth slightly open and reached out her hand. It looked close enough to touch. She studied it through her fingers. Real. No screen between her and the massive boulders gently floating across the green, little tendrils in their wake. Like water.

She felt her stomach drop for a split second, a single sliver of fear generating just the tiniest bit faster than it could be eaten up, and then it was gone. 

Anisha was so busy staring she didn't notice the presence behind her until she felt the beginnings of pressure on her shoulder. Her body whipped around on instinct not her own, shoving her staff between herself and the armored body. In the instant before space was forced between them, she felt cloth and fur over the metal plate. 

She pulled against her own arms, like slamming the brakes and screeching to a halt, the end of her staff just barely touched, bobbed, and then alighted gently on the snow. She looked up to a shocked Templar, cloth and a fur mantle tucked around his plate, a mop of curly hair. Cullen.  _ Instant ramen is bad for you. _

She snorted and then burst into laughter, covering her face with her left hand and leaning on the inert staff she'd _ nearly used to fry the Commander of the Inquisition's forces in his armor _ .

Krem ran over in the time it took Cullen to remember how to speak. The Commander mumbled apologies as he reflexively rubbed the back of his neck. The iconic act elicited more giggles and snorts.  "Anisha, what did you  _ do _ ?!"

Krem tried to pull her upright, but Anisha was laughing too hard. "Ramen noodles!" she got out between gasps for air. "Because in the second- in the second one, he-" Krem and Cullen only looked more confused, which only made her laugh harder.

Krem pulled her away, apologizing to the Commander, towards the open gates of the village itself. She hadn't paid attention to what he'd said, too busy catching her breath and calming her giggles.

"Do I even want to know?"

"Nope." Anisha paused a moment. She snorted. "I nearly fried him." A giggle escaped. "He just touched my shoulder." Krem's only response was an annoyed grumble and a shake of his head.

Krem pulled her past Segrit's table and the little crowd of people gathered there, whether waiting to talk to him or just chit-chatting with one another. He let her go as they climbed the stairs and she paused at the mabari statue, touching it lightly and absorbing the details.  _ Cold _ , but she should have expected that of a frozen statue. Massive, amazing,  _ real _ . Krem ignored her fangirling and kept his steady pace headed for the tavern.

Anisha ripped her eyes away from the statue and jogged to catch up with him. Varric wasn't at his fire, though the cold remnants were there, tents erected around it. Were one of those tents actually Varric's? Did that mean he was nearby, or did he leave one set up when he was gone? 

Krem was already entering the little tavern by the time she caught up, but she didn't bother following him. She poked her head inside and a quick peek was enough to tell her Sera wasn't there either, so she ran across and jogged up the steps to the cabins where she knew Solas would later be standing. She stood in his spot and held her chin mockingly.  _ Look at me; I'm the Dread Wolf. Quelle scary; much horreur. _ She kicked up snow in the spot, making a mess like a petulant child. She jumped up and sat on the boulder to wait for Krem, letting her feet dangle.  _ They must be off completing quests or something. _ She leapt down when Krem left the tavern and ran to catch up with him.

“Don’t suppose you’ll actually help any?” Krem asked her when she’d caught up. 

Anisha pointed over to the small group of people vying for the quartermaster’s attention. “That person looks important.”

“No shit,” he retorted. “That’s the quartermaster Threnn I’m going to try next.”

Anisha shrugged. “Seems like you’ve got it handled then. What d’ya need me for?”

Krem grumbled something about her being the one who begged to come with him. Anisha hadn’t been assigned to this; she’d had to beg Bull to let her come with Krem in the first place. She couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Haven for herself, especially knowing that the Chargers could actually potentially be rejected by the Inquisition. 

She could have said something, could have told him he just needed to wait and speak to the Inquisitor- well, not yet Inquisitor; The Herald- but then she’d kept silent for so long, it was habit now. Besides, better to keep her cards close to her chest. She wasn't sure whose instinct that was anymore, but it ran deep. Easier not to question it.

They rounded the corner and she slowed, staring at the Chantry doors. It was the first thing that was actually smaller than she'd expected it to be. Sure, the building was big enough, but the doors were just regular-sized, built for humans. It smelled a bit newer than she was expecting too, like they'd rebuilt or renovated the ancient one that had stood here since Andraste herself, the one the Warden Hero had stormed when she'd slaughtered the cultists who had lived here prior. Amell's efforts to keep the place hidden had been for nothing. Genitivi had gone on to lead the Chantry right to it, so they could then set up their new Disneyland. She rolled her eyes as she followed Krem.  _ People are the same everywhere. _

She halted just a few steps past the open tent she assumed belonged to the Nightingale and let Krem continue to stand in line to talk to the quartermaster. She walked backwards to stand face-to-face with the scout on duty. She looked him up and down once and, before he could say anything, she leaned forward.

"Boo!" Anisha whispered in his face. His eyes widened and she jerked back in time to be out of the way when he bolted, filled with the sudden fear of whatever he’d seen when she said the magic word. She licked her lips and smiled. _Hardly even a snack,_ but it was amusing. 

Fluttering wings in a cage caught her attention. The crow squawked at her. She perched on the edge of the table covered in bits of paper, books, stabbed maps. Glancing down at the pages, it seemed a bit sloppy to leave things out.  _ Unless it was purposeful. _ To catch someone, or to disseminate false information?  _ Ah _ , that would do it. Anisha shrugged and fiddled with the latch locking the crow's cage shut.

She pulled the cage open and watched as the bird glared at her, cocked a head to the side, and then hopped forward to perch on her arm. Anisha shifted slightly, slowly, for better balance. She had no idea what she was doing. She'd never handled a bird before, but the crow didn't seem to mind. It just intently stared at her and fluttered it's wings a bit.

Anisha cautiously lifted her other hand for the crow to inspect. As if it would smell her like dogs and cats do. That made her smile at her own ignorance. Silly. She slowly, gently touched the crow's wings and he let her. She let herself be absorbed in the soothing feeling of petting the crow, watching the way the light played off the sleek, oily black feathers until she felt a presence behind her. 

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know who you think is behind her this time. Why do people keep sneaking up on her? Tbh, they're not really sneaking. She's just oblivious. Anyways, I know who it is but was struggling with the dialogue so said ah fuckit. Sorry if that's a cliffhanger, but it wasn't anything epic. Just them meeting for the first time.


End file.
